It began with a dream, but at first that dream did not include hip-hop magazines, Snoop Dogg, Kelly Clarkson or a limousine.
Instead, Middletown soul-rocker Nitro Nitra’s long-ago dream featured a mystical entity who gave her a mysterious message she now credits with landing her on NBC’s “American Song Contest,” where she is the contestant representing Delaware.
Nitra, who grew up in East Wilmington, may make her first appearance on an episode of NBC’s new, eight-week competition as early as Monday evening. The show is hosted by Snoop and Clarkson.
It’s unclear exactly when the Charter School of Wilmington grad will make her debut because the show’s spokesperson couldn’t be reached for comment by deadline and Nitra isn’t allowed to disclose that information.
’An emotional prison’
Ever since Nitra was a kid, she enjoyed carrying a tune. She used to do it at the YMCA and at the Christina Cultural Arts Center in Wilmington.
“I was just constantly singing and singing,” she recalled. “It always set my soul free.”
But eventually, that little girl ended up losing the musical key that unlocked her happiness, stolen by negative self-think, she said.
“I grew up poor. I’m from the hood,” she explained. “For 15 to 20 years, I was living in an emotional prison — on a cycle of going in and out of rehab, institutions and dead-end jobs, and just living a life of despair.”
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In an attempt to find herself, Nitra bounced around from city to city, living in Atlanta, Florida, Las Vegas, and Philadelphia over that stretch of about two decades.
But every time she moved, she’d fall into the habit of singing the same old tune. Nitra would settle into one of those cities, lose everything, move back to Delaware temporarily, and then she’d do it all over again in a new city.
Her vices stemmed from her low self-esteem, she said, and her drug of choice was Percocet. It was a decision she made on her own, she said. No one forced her to do it.
Nitra said she turned to popping pills for recreational use and also hoped they’d make her feel more secure in herself.
“It gave me that feeling that I can do anything. But I was on drugs, so it’s a false sense. It’s not genuine,” she explained. “It was pill confidence. It was pill energy.”
Vision from ‘an angel’
At the end of 2018, Nitra spiraled into a low place. “I had, again, lost everything.”
So she moved back to Delaware. But things changed one night after she drifted off to sleep.
“I had a dream of this being. She looked like an angel standing on a clock tower. She’s on the clock tower and she’s looking at me, and she’s nudging me and communicating with me, but not through speech,” Nitra explained.
“But I knew she was saying that ‘It’s time,’ hence the clock tower. So, ‘It’s time for you to work on yourself. Time for you to get off of the loop, get off of this cycle. You’ve collected enough data, and it’s time for you to now live the life of your dream.’ ”
She took the angel-like creature’s advice to heart and mustered up the courage to pump the brakes and get off the emotional train ride from hell she’d been stuck on, she recalled.
Nitra shifted her focus back to being a kid when she’d sung all the time.
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The soul-rocker recognized that human brains are like computers, so she knew she had to reprogram hers. She achieved that by playing a recording of herself saying positive affirmations before going to sleep each night, she said.
The main affirmation she repeated was: “I’m a singer that travels all around the world.”
The East Wilmington native shed everything from her life that was negative, she said, and holding her back.
Another strategy she embraced to fight her addiction was fasting, she said, to reset “her rewards system.”
Soul journey on a ‘Train’
Her goal was to perform at as many open mics as she could in Delaware and the tri-state area with her longtime friend James “Jimi Church” Pollard, a guitarist living in Ardmore, Pennsylvania.
Jimi Church and Nitra rehearsed in Pennsylvania at Zion Baptist Church of Ardmore, where Jimi’s dad is the pastor, the Rev. Dr. James Pollard Sr.
In 2020, while rehearsing for an open-mic night, Nitra became frustrated after Jimi kept trying to show her a new guitar lick he was experimenting with.
“She was like, ‘Come on, let’s just stay focus, we have work to do’ I said, ‘No, we’re gonna take time and let this marinate.’ So I kept strumming.”
As Nitra became more annoyed, Jimi Church said he started singing: “I’m on a soul journey / I’m on a train, here I go.”
Nitra stopped dead in her tracks.
“I’m just like, ‘Wow, this is deep.’ This song says everything about what I’ve just experienced in my life,” Nitra said, adding she believed this song was a sign from “the universe.”
It took Jimi Church and Nitra about 30 minutes to knock out this song, “Train.”
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While she was driving back to Delaware, Nitra got stuck in Philly traffic and was playing a demo of the song in her car.
“I’m driving down the street and this couple pulls up. They’re like, ‘What are you listening to?’ [I say,] ‘This is called ‘’Train.’’ And they’re like, ‘Where can we get it?’ I say, ‘It’s not out yet. But it will be out,’” Nitra explained.
When the couple drove off, Nitra received another supernatural sign, she said: “Guess what was on their license plate? 777.”
Spiritually, the number 7 is said to mean perfection or completion.
Message from Phil Collins
In 2020, Nitra used the pandemic to her advantage to create new music videos and a new album, “Unearthed,” which she dropped in 2021”
The album release party was in April at the newly opened House of Laffs in Wilmington.
By summer, Nitra landed a manager and a new band. She and the band went on a regional tour for a chunk of the season. When the tour ended, she found herself back home in Middletown feeling down and stuck, she said.
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One day, she put on her headphones, slipped on her roller skates and skated around Middletown. She skated down a hill unable to stop.
She fell, and, “I’m crying hysterically.”
“The next thing that I hear in my ear is, ‘Girl, stop your crying, it’ll be all right,’” Nitra remembered. ‘It was Phil Collins’ ‘You’ll Be in My Heart.’”
She said hearing Collins’ message in her headphones was another sign.
Nitra continued listening to Collins while limping back home. When she checked her email, the soul-rocker said she noticed a random message that “American Song Contest” was looking for potential contestants with original music.
She submitted “Train” and the rest was history.
Nitra said she thinks she was discovered by the show because she was pumping out new music videos and music throughout the pandemic, which made it easier for people to find her.
“I put my heart and my soul into everything,” she said. “When you do all of that, it’s going to attract.”
A ‘sleeper’ on the show
“American Song Contest” is an eight-week competition (now in its second week) that highlights original music. It features 56 vocalists, one per U.S. state and territory.
The show, inspired by the popular “Eurovision Song Contest,” includes famous singers Siquó (representing Maryland), Jewel (Alaska), Michael Bolton (Connecticut) and Macy Gray (Ohio), along with rising, lesser-known talents.
Nitra’s personal manager, Leanne McNamee, owner of SoulShyne Entertainment, is confident her friend/client will show out on “American Song Contest” because she’s magnetic.
“As she walks in the room, even if your back is to the door, you’re going to know she’s there. She just has a special element about her,” McNamee, of Delco, explained. “She’s going to go all the way on the show. I have a feeling she’s going to be the sleeper that nobody was expecting.”
Nitra said she’s going to perform “Train” on the show.
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The singer has continued to say positive affirmations that she’s an international performer.
She has remained sober over the last few years, she said.
Being on “American Contest” is deeper than just a competition for the singer. Getting a chance to appear on the show means she’s pursuing her dream of singing, which the angel-like creator instructed her to do in 2018, she explained.
“It’s not just about winning a musical show,” Nitra said. “This is about winning within myself, overcoming my own fears, overcoming my own insecurities and being the best version of me.”
NBC’s “American Song Contest” airs every Monday at 8 p.m. For more info, visit nbc.com
Andre Lamar is the features/lifestyle reporter. If you have an interesting story idea, email Andre Lamar at alamar@gannett.com
